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Taj Mohammed (Guantanamo Bay detainee)
| place_of_birth = | date_of_arrest = | place_of_arrest= | arresting_authority= | date_of_release = | place_of_release= | date_of_death = | place_of_death = | citizenship = | detained_at = Guantanamo | id_number = 902 | group = | alias = | charge = No charge | penalty = | status = Repatriated. | csrt_summary = | csrt_transcript= | occupation = | spouse = | parents = | children = }} Taj Mohammed is a citizen of Afghanistan who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 902. Joint Task Force Guantanamo counter-terrorism analysts estimate Mohammed was born in 1981. He was repatriated in 2006. According to Washington Post reporter, Mahvish Khan, who visited Taj Mohammed in detention with habeas counsel, he learned English within his four years of detention. Combatant Status Review Tribunal s were held in a 3 x 6 meter trailer. The captive sat with his hands cuffed and feet shackled to a bolt in the floor.Inside the Guantánamo Bay hearings: Barbarian "Justice" dispensed by KGB-style "military tribunals", Financial Times, December 11, 2004 Three chairs were reserved for members of the press, but only 37 of the 574 Tribunals were observed. ]] Initially the Bush administration asserted that they could withhold all the protections of the Geneva Conventions to captives from the war on terror. This policy was challenged before the Judicial branch. Critics argued that the USA could not evade its obligation to conduct competent tribunals to determine whether captives are, or are not, entitled to the protections of prisoner of war status. Subsequently the Department of Defense instituted the Combatant Status Review Tribunals. The Tribunals, however, were not authorized to determine whether the captives were lawful combatants -- rather they were merely empowered to make a recommendation as to whether the captive had previously been correctly determined to match the Bush administration's definition of an enemy combatant. Allegations A memorandum summarizing the evidence against Taj Mohammed prepared for his Combatant Status Review Tribunal, was among those released in March 2005.Summary of Evidence memo (.pdf) prepared for Taj Mohammed's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - November 12, 2004 - page 64 The allegations Mohammed faced were: Transcript Mohammed participated in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.detainees ARB|Set_36_2493-2577.pdf#49}} Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Taj Mohammed's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 49-58 Administrative Review Board hearing Detainees who were determined to have been properly classified as "enemy combatants" were scheduled to have their dossier reviewed at annual Administrative Review Board hearings. The Administrative Review Boards weren't authorized to review whether a detainee qualified for POW status, and they weren't authorized to review whether a detainee should have been classified as an "enemy combatant". They were authorized to consider whether a detainee should continue to be detained by the United States, because they continued to pose a threat—or whether they could safely be repatriated to the custody of their home country, or whether they could be set free. Mohammed chose to participate in his Administrative Review Board hearing.c Enemy Combatant election form Taj Mohammed's Assisting Military Officer, reading from the Enemy Combatant election form, reported that they met on October 19, 2005, for forty minutes, where Taj Mohammed said he wanted to submit 31 letters to his Board. They met again on October 20, 2005 for 71 minutes. His Assisting Military Officer described Taj Mohammed as "polite and cooperative throughout both interviews"> The following primary factors favor continued detention The following primary factors favor release or transfer Press reports According to the Associated Press the allegations against Nasir, in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal, was accused of being a member of Lashkar-e-Tayyiba -- The Army of the Pure.Sketches of Guantanamo Detainees-Part I, ''WTOP, March 15, 2006'' Mohammed told his Tribunal: "I was a shepherd, and I never can even go out very much, and I was always with my goats on the mountain, These are all lies about me." On June 15, 2008 the McClatchy News Service published a series of articles based on interviews with 66 former Guantanamo captives. mirror Taj Mohammed was one of thee former captives who had an article profiling him. mirror Taj Mohammed reported being sexually harassed during his interrogations. He reported that guards desecrated the Koran. According to his McClatchy interviewer Taj Mohammed tried to retaliate: According to the McClatchy profile of him Taj Mohammed was radicalized in Guantanamo and said he beat less religious captives. The article said his lawyers, Paul Rashkind, was taken aback when told of these assertions, and questioned whether the McClatchy interviewer may have been taken in by an impostor. According to the McClatchy interviewer Taj Mohammed was mentored and given lessons in Arabic and the Koran by Yemeni captive Ali Abdullah Ahmed -- one of the three men camp authorities reported committed suicide on June 10, 2006. According to the McClatchy interviewer Taj Mohammed spent nine months in Camp four in 2005, the camp where "compliant" captives were allowed to mingle with other captives. He was, however, demoted when he slapped a female doctor. ABC News reported on February 22, 2010, that Taj Mohammed was employed by the Agribusiness Development Team, an Provincial Reconstruction Team development project with participation from the US military. He works as a translator. He is reported to be surprisingly fluent in both English and Spanish—learned in Guantanamo. Namesakes On January 16, 2010, the Department of Defense was forced to publish the names of the 645 captives held in the Bagram Theater Internment Facility. One of the indiviuals on the list was named Taj Mohammed. References External links *The Stories of the Afghans Just Released from Guantánamo: Intelligence Failures, Battlefield Myths and Unaccountable Prisons in Afghanistan (Part Two) Andy Worthington *McClatchy News Service - video Category:Afghan extrajudicial prisoners of the United States Category:Living people Category:Bagram Theater Internment Facility detainees Category:Guantanamo detainees known to have been released Category:Year of birth uncertain